I look like I’ve had an encounter with an octopus!
Both Dear Husband and I visited our dermatologist on Tuesday. She got us both with the liquid nitrogen. She’s treating a spot on his nose, and four spots on the left side of my face. Unfortunately, I have these red, blistery circles that are very prominent. I look like an octopus has wrapped a tentacle across my face and “kissed” me!
I know it’s good to keep track of skin problems, but I sure do hate liquid nitrogen!
I chat with a group of ladies on Facebook who are predominately knitters and crocheters, but they welcome ladies who quilt and make period clothing and a variety of other specialties. The woman who moderates this group encourages everyone to post pictures the first of each month of what they are in the process of creating. I’ve worked on three quilt tops and squares for charity afghans, and I have some pictures to share.
This first top is a collection of blocks made from my stash. I have a LOT of fabric that is a quarter of a yard or less, and it’s organized by color (mostly), so I can go to the shelves and take down a handful of fabric to make a block. This particular block, and quilt were designed for “Sunday Morning Quilts.” I love the book, and used this pattern for a quilt for Scraps on a Mission last Fall. I liked it so much that I’m making one for us.
I haven’t decided what to use as the backing and binding, but most likely they will be dark. I’ll quilt this one on my sewing machine, and we’ll use it in the great room.
This next quilt is a color block design that went together in just a couple of hours, It will be quilted using parallel lines about 2″ apart. The center strip will be quilted vertically, and the rest will be quilted horizontally. This quilt will be given to a women’s shelter that Scraps on a Mission is supporting. I’ll quilt this one at home, too. It’s close to twin size. I’m trying to decide if I want to add a strip at the bottom, or both the top and bottom, to give it a little more length. (The light spots in the yellow are from the quilt behind this one on my design board.)
There’s one more quilt top that is done and ready to be sent to my favorite long arm quilter, but I need to get a picture tomorrow, so I’ll add another post then.
This last picture is the six inch crocheted squares that I’ve started for a charity project. I like to have something to work on while I sit with Dear Husband at night, and these fill the bill.
The Maple Leaf Quilt that I was working on in December is ready for a day when I can just sit and sew. I know one of those days is bound to show up, sooner or later. I’ll post pictures of that quilt when it’s further along.
And we had such a good day, Tuesday. Dear Husband and I had appointments with the dermatologist in the morning. He drove so that I could take care of three phone calls that needed to be made. We have the loveliest dermatologist, and I really enjoy visiting with her, but she got both of us with the liquid nitrogen this time, four spots on my face and one on his nose. It’s good to be proactive about this stuff, so I’m really not complaining.
We treated ourselves to lunch at Pappadeaux, a Cajun favorite. We know they serve OMG sized meals, so we were unusually prudent about our choices and still took home enough food that I didn’t have to cook. Turning out of the parking lot, I mentioned that had we gone left, I could have visited a quilt shop we’ve finally tracked down. DH is the most remarkable man. He turned around and visited the shop with me! I picked up some brights for baby quilts and browsed through their amazing selection of batiks. It’s a place I want to visit again.
When we got home, I was chained to the chair in the office, where I sorted several days worth of mail, and organized what needed immediate attention and what could be thrown away. I filed for a bit, all the while keeping an eye out the window. Around 2:30 it had started raining. The skies were quite dark to the south, so I thought we might miss the worst of it. Hah!
It looked as though the sun had set at 3:00 and the rain came down in earnest. It continued to come down harder and harder all afternoon. In fact, it’s rained quite hard for about twelve hours now, and is expected to continue into the morning. The thought I shared with Dear Husband was that we were incredibly lucky that it had been in the 60s, otherwise we would be under twelve feet of snow!
Speaking of snow…. the temperature is expected to continue to drop, and by late morning we will have a mix of rain and snow, followed by snow in early afternoon. I doubt that much of the early snow will accumulate because of the sodden ground, but as the day passes we will probably have ice to deal with.
It’s the middle of the night, a time when I am not usually at the computer. I had a dream of the house floating off the foundation and sliding down the front lawn. Somehow, that blended with the scene from “The Wizard of Oz,” and the house was at a crazy tilt at the road with legs in black and white striped stockings sticking out from one corner. I guess I’d rather be awake than continue that dream, so perhaps I’ll get a little more filing done.
Have a good night, all!
Wow, this has been an busy month! Dear Husband has continued with his physical therapy, and he’s had visits with several doctors (repeatedly) as they keep track of the progress of his knee. He had an x-ray the other day to determine if the bones in his knee are still in the appropriate places.
In addition to health issues, DH has decided to join me in morning exercise. My class loves him, although I don’t know why. He’s very quiet at class. I suppose I’ve talked about him so much that they feel as though they know him.
I’ve finished the top of one quilt, and may get a second one sewn together this afternoon. The backing of that first quilt has been pieced. I want to contact my long-arm quilter to see if she will take on this project.
Yesterday, My-Sister-The-Nurse, DH and I visited a food service supply house called “Schweppes,” to buy utensils and pots for the kitchen. Then we went to “Ki’s” for lunch. DH ordered saganaki, which we all shared. We all had baked onion soup and salad,but we each chose a different salad: Chopped salad for sis, Greek salad for DH, and Cobb salad for me. We all brought salad home and had it for dinner! Of course, the best part of the day was the time I had with my sister!
DH has resumed driving at long last, so he took himself off to his last physical therapy session. I’m going to clear off the counter in the kitchen, have some lunch and then go to the studio for a bit. I’d like to get that next quilt ready to be quilted.
This weekend most of the Christmas decorations will go downstairs. I still have wreaths and swags outside, but I’ll wait until this coming week to take them down. We had our first measurable snow this morning, all of one inch. The snow will melt this weekend, and then I’ll take the greens down.
Tax season is coming up, so I’ll need to go through our data and receipts. Ugh!
I’ve started crocheting squares for charity once more. It’s pleasant to sit with DH in the evening, wrapped in a quilt, crocheting.
A week from today my quilting bee will come for Souper Supper. I make soup, and they all bring a side to share. I love having dinner with these ladies. You can bet the conversation will be great and the meal tasty.
And that’s about all I have to share.. I hope that your days are full, and that you are doing what you enjoy.
They had to take my computers away to get me to sit down and write my thank you notes. I’m SO embarrassed. (Actually, one computer is being fed information from the other, and it just gave me the downtime to start my notes, but my husband would say the opening line is more fun! lol)
I’ve been keeping a running list of people to whom I need to send a thank you note, or a personal note. That list has been growing, because I’ve added to it, but not written the notes. What’s worse is that I have scraps of paper all over the place with partial lists of notes to be written. My mother would not be pleased to know that I FINALLY wrote a thank you note fully one year after a gift had been given.
One of my sisters says that it’s never too late to say thank you. I hope she’s right, but that still doesn’t excuse my tardiness.
I hope that everyone who gets a hand written note from me knows how heartfelt that note is, and that I’ve thought about them, daily, until I finally got the note written.
I fully expect pithy comments from Cop Car and Frankie, and I bet they have different opinions. Mea culpa…..maxima mea culpa. I’ll try to do better this year.
Green is on my mind these days. I was standing at the sink, looking out over the herb garden, and realized that there are little tiny leaves growing around the crowns of the oregano plants. I’m sure these were growing prior to Christmas, when it was so warm. We’ve had a cold spate for the past two weeks or so, with temperatures much closer to normal. I think it’s likely that we’ll loose these tiny leaves, and see another flush of them rise in March or April. It’s been cold, but they are talking about the possibilities of temps in or near the FIFTIES this coming week. Weather is very different these days.
I’ve been working on the blocks for a scrap quilt to use in the family room, something that we can curl up in and not have to worry about wear and tear. I’m using the pattern called “The Missing U” from “Sunday Morning Quilts.” Each block is 15 x 15. In each block there is a scrap of white material. Each block is made from a color family, so there might be 15 fabrics which are all purple or lavender in one block. I showed the blocks to my quilting bee on Friday, and right away they were down on the floor laying out the blocks. Of the sixteen blocks, two are lime and one is a sage green. I said I was thinking about swapping one of the lime for a second purple block, and I was also thinking about removing the sage green block. “Nope!” They told me to leave it just as it is. I have to choose a backing, and get a batting. I’m looking forward to quilting this quilt! Pictures later.
We need more greens in our diet! I need to schedule stir fries, and sub gums, and vegetable soups. We just don’t get enough greens. Any suggestions? I’m going to ask everyone to give me veggie ideas!
And last….I’m green with envy that my youngest sister was wise enough to go south for a week right after Christmas. The pictures she posted on Facebook made me long for places where grass is still green, and you can walk around outside without layers and layers of clothing. We’ll have to see how Dear Husband’s knee is coming. Perhaps we can get away for a few days in February.
I’m an old dog who needs to learn some new tricks. We finally broke down and bought a MacBook Air which is fascinating product, but fairly different than the PCs I’m used to. I’m playing with it for a few days before we take our previous computer to the Apple Store to have the contents downloaded onto the new computer.
Yes, Apple seems to have made it more people friendly, but there is always a learning curve with a new mouse, a new keyboard, a new computer set up. I’m finding things I need to ask in my first training session, programs I’m accustomed to like the Adobe Flash Player, and how to play disks. We opted for the one on one sessions to help me learn how to get around the computer a little faster.
The one drawback I didn’t think about before I bought the Mac was that our office computer is PC, so the two computers will not be able to talk to each other. My stepson pointed that out, but then he told me I could e-mail things to myself from one computer to the other, and save them. And, I bought the Microsoft Office for Mac, so that I can continue to use software which I know.
Onward and upward!
When I was young, we had some rather odd dinner traditions for the night before Christmas. I have four siblings. My youngest sister arrived when my oldest sister was nineteen, but the traditions must have been constant, because I’ve heard both of them reminisce about them.
My mother made oyster stew for Christmas Eve. I think she made it to please my father. Personally I wouldn’t have touched it with a ten-foot pole. Some of the family left the oysters behind, but sipped the broth, but Dad liked it all. I don’t think I was the only kid who didn’t care for the stew, so in addition, someone made grilled cheese sandwiches, which was just fine with me. I was too excited about opening presents to really care what was on the table.
There was one other meal that my family ate that I considered odd. It wasn’t tied to Christmas, but was an occasional Saturday night special. Dad would cook a lot of bacon. He would save the fat to cook sliced onions, and then he would scramble eggs in the same pan. I don’t think he drained the fat. As I recall, it was a greasy mess! It was served on toast as a sandwich, and some of us added ketchup to it. Frankly, it’s one meal I have never recreated, and don’t miss, but my sisters speak of it lovingly. Sorry, Dad. I’d rather have one of your grilled steaks.
Someone in the family came up with a variation on a peanut butter sandwich that I still like!
You slather white bread with crunchy peanut butter, then add a spoonful of what we called “piccalilli.” Probably most of you know that as sweet relish. It’s grilled like a grilled cheese sandwich. I love it! I haven’t had one so far this winter. I believe I’ll be treating myself this coming week. Of all the food that I’ve described, this sandwich is the only one my husband will not eat. He just doesn’t know what he’s missing! *G*
I’m confident that I’m not the only one who has been a part of odd family dining traditions. Care to share yours with me?
This is one of my favorite times of year. I like the end of the day, usually when I have a good part of the house to myself. It’s taken me a long time to get into the Christmas spirit this year. About ten days ago I needed to begin baking for things that had to go into the mail. I felt a little of the spirit then, but it didn’t really sneak up on me until this weekend.
Cop Car has teased me about what I consider to be a simplified Christmas. Yes, I’ve put up swags and wreaths, but it’s about a quarter of what I once did to ring in the holiday season. I chose to decorate with two large poinsettias, and two arrangements with small poinsettias, ivy, cyclamen (and one other white flowered plant I don’t recognize). I like the uncluttered look, and the plants bring color into the house. The planted arrangements will last much longer than cut flowers, and I got it all at Costco, so you know I’m feeling thrifty!
My side of the family gathered on Saturday evening for a meal, and to do a Christmas gift exchange. We had a fabulous meal, to which everyone contributed. None of us needed to cook, though. My niece provided enough for several days of meals. It was lovely to see some of my great nieces and nephews who were tiny when I saw them last, and almost grown now. My youngest sis and her family were the only branch of the family not represented, and I miss seeing them. When the girls were small they all came to celebrate with us, and Mother.
Early today, I tidied the living room, and hung the stockings. A little more Christmas spirit snuck up on me. I cleared the clutter in the public areas of the house, and contemplated what I needed for dinner. I put the tree skirt around the little Sitka spruce that decorates my house all year long,and watered plants. I put a few more decorations out. The only thing I didn’t get to was hanging ornaments from the chandelier. I might still do that, just to enjoy it for the next two weeks.
I decided that I wanted to make a nice dinner for Dear Husband and the son who lives with us. I settled on Sullivan Island Shrimp Bog (a pilaf with shrimp and bacon), green bean casserole (his request….I would have done steamed broccoli), a simple salad with romaine, strawberries and walnuts. And, I found an Ice Cream Cake Roll. My Dad loved that dessert, and so does Dear Husband.
I caught up with my Facebook friends after dinner, cleaned up the kitchen, and then sat down to wrap our grand daughter’s gifts. It’s amazing how fast you can wrap gifts when your husband has the remote and he’s sleeping through a science program about the universe! I was done in record time! *G*
So, in a few minutes, the house will be quiet, and I’ll have a private moment to commune with the Christmas tree.
I wish for you the blessings of the season. I hope that you will all have the chance to celebrate with family or friends. For those of you traveling, I pray for your safety while on the road.
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!
I am the original “pick it up, and read it right through, one book at a time” girl. I’ll start a book and be unable to put it down, staying up way too late into the night just to see how it ends. I know I’ll be a wreck the next day, but I cannot reason with myself and PUT THE BOOK DOWN!
I’ve been reading “Fall of Giants” by Ken Follett. It’s full of the details leading to WW I, and despite the fact that it is based on fictional characters, it’s still slow going, trying to understand all of the interactions between countries. It’s a period where major change is going to take place politically and socially, and Follett has an amazing amount of information to share.
When I was about a quarter of the way into “Fall of Giants,” a shipment of books arrived from Amazon. I wasn’t going to order any more books. I was going to use the public library more. I didn’t want to have to box up more books! I couldn’t resist. I picked up Donna Leon’s new book, “Jewels of Paradise.” and waded in!
I was at least halfway through that book when I needed to take Dear Husband to physical therapy, and I couldn’t lay my hands on the book. One of the “Inn Boonsboro” trilogy from Nora Roberts was, though, so I had THREE books going at one time.
Okay, I’ve finished two of the “Inn Boonsboro” books, and I’m well into the third. By the end of the weekend, I should be down to two books. If it wasn’t for gift wrapping, I might even finish the Donna Leon book, too! *G* GIft wrapping is important, and it can be fun. It’s part of our celebration of the season, and I really don’t mind. The books will hold.
I think the next book I need to read, and use, is Ina Garten’s “Foolproof Recipes.” That woman knows how to cook, and how to entertain! I need to take lessons!